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Piper Fellow Recipients 2019

2019 Piper Fellow Charlie Brown

vp-fellow-2019-charlie “I anticipate that the Piper Fellowship experience will sharpen, refresh, and renew my leadership as we implement an exciting but challenging new strategic plan. I will be sharing with our board and my direct reports what I learn and mentor them in how to integrate that learning into their work. I will also leverage my new learning into expanded networking and new avenues of outreach throughout our region so that the FRC healing message of peace and good can have a positive impact on our fractured society. It is my hope and dream that I can live up to my potential as a recognized leader in our Valley and use my skills and passion for helping other leaders and their organizations fulfill their own aspirational promise. All this then can come full circle, and help us live our FRC mission of healing, transformation, and service.” 
Charlie Brown, Executive Director, Franciscan Renewal Center

Charlie was hired by Franciscan Renewal Center in 1998 as general manager, forming a collaborative leadership model with executive director Joe Schwab. He graduated from Fort Lewis College, Durango, Colorado, with a Bachelor of Arts in business administration. He immediately began his management career with Kmart Corporation and was promoted to general manager in Vista, California.

Charlie was continually promoted to larger-volume stores in a variety of locations throughout California. After a successful 14-year retail-management career, he chose to transition his skills and experience to better align with his faith and spirituality as well as spend more time with his daughters. Charlie has furthered his education by attending Harvard on scholarship and the Arizona State University nonprofit extension.

Charlie completed the two-year certification training and education as a spiritual director. He is a father of two lovely and faithful daughters, Amber and Bridget. He has completed several Half-Ironman races and marathons as well as 13 triathlons. He enjoys his lake cabin in Durango, fitness, travel, art, and is a lifelong learner.

2019 Piper Fellow Tiffany Fairall

vp-fellow-2019-tiffany“My goal is to provide Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum with a more refined purpose of showcasing marginalized people, experiences, perspectives, and art forms. With the Piper Fellowship, I will have an opportunity to meet museum professionals from several social justice institutions and learn how they navigate challenging subject matter and resistance. I am interested in their strategies for invoking empathy and fostering meaningful connections with audiences. By consciously embedding these efforts into my museum’s programming and practices, we can raise awareness and build a better understanding of our common humanity, which art is uniquely able to do in a powerful and personal way. This then creates a safe space for dialogue about major issues facing our local, national, and global communities.”
Tiffany Fairall, Chief Curator, Mesa Contemporary Arts Museum

Born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona, Tiffany Fairall has more than 20 years of experience in the museum field. She is currently chief curator for Mesa Contemporary Arts (MCA) Museum at Mesa Arts Center. Fairall started as the museum’s associate curator, which evolved into a curator of exhibitions. Over the last 14 years, she has organized a variety of exhibitions that demonstrate her interest in popular culture and social commentary, most notably Flora and Fauna: Botanicals and Animals in Contemporary Art (2019); Jazz It Up! Jazz Inspired Art from Today (2019); We the People: Contemporary American Figurative Art (2018); AltRealities: The Fantastical Worlds & Creatures of Contemporary Artists (2017); Boundless: The Book Transformed in Contemporary Art (2015); Messin’ with the Masters (2013); and Beneath the Skin: Artwork Inspired by Tattoos (2008). Before this appointment, Fairall was the curatorial assistant/assistant registrar for the ASU Art Museum, where she implemented events and programming for the Ceramics Research Center and helped manage the museum’s collection and exhibitions. Fairall holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in art history as well as her B.F.A. in graphic design from Arizona State University.

Even though Fairall remains passionate about popular culture and social commentary, she would like to refocus her professional purpose and investigate how MCA Museum can provide a platform for marginalized voices and use contemporary art as a catalyst for social issues that are minimized or absent in the mainstream dialogue. Her fellowship will enable her to conduct 27 national site visits and interview various museum/art professionals from across the country who are at the forefront of fostering conversations about equity in areas of race, socioeconomic class, gender, LGBTQ, religion, and accessibility. She will pair several of the site visits with museum-focused conferences and a three-day intensive certificate workshop at National Liberty Museum in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This fellowship is the impetus for personal growth and will serve as a networking opportunity to engage with others who have successfully transformed their institutions into sites for social action. To process and reflect on this intensive yearlong program, Fairall will conclude her fellowship with a weeklong meditative/mindfulness retreat.

2019 Piper Fellow Sherri Friend

vp-fellow-2019-sherri“Oakwood Creative Care has experienced a major turnaround in the last seven years and is primed and ready for its next stage of development. I believe the Piper Fellowship is an incredible opportunity to dive in and be able to dream and prepare for strategic growth and organizational expansion. I plan to prepare for this next phase by learning from best practice models, attending conferences, and taking a class at Columbia University with the goal of more effectively serving our aging community and supporting family caregivers. I recognize that it is vital for me as a leader to expand my skill set to reflect so that we can continue to innovate old systems and create new ones, resulting in a five-year strategic plan that can have a profound and innovative effect on how we offer services to our aging community.”
Sherri Friend, President & CEO, Oakwood Creative Care

Sherri Friend is the president and CEO of Oakwood Creative Care. She has dedicated her career to finding creative solutions to enriching the lives of individuals with perceived obstacles and filling those lives with purpose and meaning. As a passionate advocate, she has become an effective business strategist with the proven skills needed to grow and develop nonprofit organizations, enabling them to expand their reach and impact into the community. Sherri has been recognized through her leadership as the 2015 Nonprofit of the Year by Mesa Chamber and received the Amazing Women Award in 2016 from the National Bank of Arizona and the Phoenix Suns.

Friend’s fellowship will focus on organizational strategy for growth and expansion of services resulting in a five-year strategic plan and the integration of long-term sustainability practices. She will take several adventures researching best practice models, meeting with thought leaders in aging, attending conferences to gain perspective on national trends, and taking a class at Columbia University. Friend’s goal is to help unlock solutions that are not currently being utilized in Arizona to offer greater access to services for our aging community.

2019 Piper Fellow Arianne Powell

Dr. Arianne Roy“Passion, ideas, dreams, opportunities, and hopes are in abundance at Terros Health; however, turning this into actionable programs that benefit the community is challenging. The Piper Fellowship will allow me the opportunity to learn how to bring these dreams to life. I am so excited!”
Arianne Powell

Position When Awarded Piper Fellowship: Director of Clinical Strategy and Analytics, Terros Health

Current Position: CEO/Co-Founder, Global Health Leaders

Dr. Arianne Powell is the CEO, Co-Founder of Global Heath Leaders. Her position when awarded Piper Fellowship was director of clinical strategy and analytics for Terros Health, a mission-driven healthcare agency that has been saving lives in Arizona for more than 50 years. In her role, she is responsible for organizational transformation and performance improvement for a wide range of population health and clinical quality initiatives, including the execution of value-based care strategy, lean process improvements, and the agency’s strategic initiatives. Dr. Powell leads business development, strategic planning, innovation, and transformation. Over the past 15 years, she has served patients and the community through programs such as wilderness therapy for at-risk youth, residential substance abuse treatment, crisis services, and outpatient physical and mental health services for underserved populations, including seriously mentally ill adults. Dr. Powell holds a master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling, a doctorate in behavioral health from Arizona State University, and is a licensed counselor.

Dr. Powell’s fellowship will include attending the Stanford University Executive Education–Analysis into Action program to gain critical knowledge of leadership, team development, and action planning. Additionally, she will attend leadership training that will focus on harnessing the power of commitment, abundance, and purpose to engage teams in mission-driven services to empower the community.

2019 Piper Fellow Angie Rodgers

vp-fellow-2019-angie“The Piper Fellowship comes at a pivotal time for the Arizona Food Bank Network as we rebrand and expand our partnerships. This opportunity will provide the time and knowledge to engage others in our work and communicate that solving hunger is possible.” 
Angie Rodgers

 

Position When Awarded Piper Fellowship: President & CEO, Arizona Food Bank Network (AzFBN)

Current Position: Director, Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES)

The Arizona Food Bank Network is a nonprofit organization representing five large food banks that distribute food statewide to more than 1,000 sites. Angie is responsible for childhood hunger programs, ensuring transportation resources are available for members, and the overall strategic direction and management of the anti-hunger organization. Angie brings more than 20 years of experience in public policy research and advocacy, focusing on human services. Before joining AzFBN, Rodgers served in various capacities for the Arizona Department of Economic Security (DES), improving child and family services through advocacy and policy initiatives and community-based partnerships. Angie was Governor Janet Napolitano’s human services policy advisor, serving as the liaison between the governor and DES and the Department of Juvenile Corrections. In this role, she was instrumental in developing high-level child and family welfare services policy and budget negotiation for nearly $750 million in state resources. She earned her master’s degree in social work at Arizona State University and bachelor’s degrees in criminology and sociology from the University of Kansas.

Through her fellowship, Rodgers will develop a communications strategy that seeks to understand various perceptions of hunger and the solutions necessary to solidify public support to achieve a hunger-free Arizona. This will include incorporating new messages of inclusivity and purpose. These themes will encourage individuals to care more about each other and relate to circumstances of commonality with one another’s struggles. She plans to attend the Stanford Summer Institute in Political Psychology and the Aspen Executive Leadership Seminar to explore joint leadership models to execute this new strategy. An avid runner, Angie will rejuvenate by training to complete her fourth half marathon.

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